Utilizing Resources in Your VO Workflow

It’s Wednesday. Hump Day! Maybe you’re super busy recording lots of jobs today (which is awesome!), but even on those busy days (or maybe, especially on those busy days), it can be helpful to have a few quick and easy resources in your back pocket to help make your workflow run a little smoother.

Wordcounter.net. If you have any clients that pay you by the word, this is a great resource where you can quickly and easily copy and paste your script to get a pretty accurate word count. (P.S. It will also give you a rough idea of how long it will take to voice that script, under “Speaking Time” in the column to the right. Handy!)

Speech In Minutes. This site is great if you know how many words are in your script already, as it will give you an idea of talking time. However, it’s important to get an accurate sense of how quickly you read. (For example, I have found that for most scripts, I tend to fall under their “Fast” category, at 160 words/min. Choosing this option tends to give me a more accurate finished time than the “Average.” But it depends on the script and the type of delivery, too!)

The Fee Calculator. Some people tend to eat those annoying PayPal fees as part of their CODB, while others charge them to clients. For me, it depends on the client. I actually have a handful who happily pay the fee. Anyway, this site allows you to enter the fee you want to collect, and then gives you an array of PayPal fees, depending on the type and amount of business you do. (You may need to play with it a bit by looking at what PayPal actually DOES charge each time to invoice in order to determine which selection is best for your business.)

Those are just a few tools/resources that I find extremely handy in my business. I know there are tons out there, so I’d love to hear what you use and like too!